FASHION Magazine

From companies like Rent Frock Repeat—which lets you rent high fashion dresses for short periods of time—to purse rental site Bag, Borrow, Or Steal, luxury fashion rental services are a popular way for the masses to get a taste of high fashion. But today Refinery 29 brought a new type of rental service to our attention: Lacquerous, a soon-to-launch subscription service for nail polishes.

Before you say “ick!” consider that a single bottle of high-end nail polish can cost more than $25—and unless you’re a collector-slash-hoarder, odds are you’ll only use that polish a handful of times before moving onto the next It shade. Enter Lacquerious: For $18 a month, users are sent three colours selected from a library of 70+ nail polish shades. Only high-end brands, such as Tom Ford, Dolce & Gabbana, OPI, and Chanel, are available, with just-released collections being key. After spending 30 days with the nail polishes, the user ships them back in a pre-paid envelope and waits for the next batch.

Every week we take on your questions about makeup, skincare, hair and more and provide all the answers. This week, Beauty Fix is focused on making it last—or not. Some things, like a great makeup application, a brightly-coloured lip or an ombré hair dye are worth preserving and we have the tips to help you do so. On the flip side, we also have a foolproof method for curing one of the most common beauty errors. If you’ve ever sprayed too much perfume, read on! In need of a beauty fix yourself? Email us at beautyfix@fashionmagazine.com.

Read on for the full fix! »

Get ready to say hello to two faces that you will be seeing a lot of in the coming months. Cover Girl has announced a new addition to their ever-growing list of spokesmodels and this time it’s a two-fer: Australian DJ sister duo Nervo has just been signed to represent the global beauty brand in promotional and digital campaigns.

With this announcement, it seems that Cover Girl is making a calculated move away from adding well-known faces to their roster and instead focusing on up-and-coming talent. The Nervo girls may not have the same name recognition as the brand’s other ambassadors (which includes Taylor Swift, Queen Latifah and Sofia Vergara, to name a few) but that’s likely about to change. Aside from releasing their own music, Nervo has worked with top talent like Miley Cyrus, Kylie Minogue and The Pussycat Dolls and they have a DJ residency in Las Vegas. Nervo also toured with Britney Spears and Nicki Minaj on the Femme Fatale tour.

Every week we take on your questions about makeup, skincare, hair and more and provide all the answers. This week, Beauty Fix is engaging in some colour theory. Stuck in a barely-there-pink nail polish rut? We have a colour that will inspire you to change it up at your next manicure. Bored of contouring with bronzer? We have a fix for that too. Read up for all these answers—and more! In need of a beauty fix yourself? Email us at beautyfix@fashionmagazine.com.

Read on for the full fix! »

See more of the nail art from Ashtiani Spring 2013 »

Last season I had the chance to work backstage during Toronto Fashion Week with the team from Tips Nail Bar. This season, the tables were turned: Essie invited me to experience what it’s like to be a model (er, nail-wise, that is) by getting the look for Ashtiani Spring 2013 applied on my own nails. Rita Remark, the lead Essie nail artist for World MasterCard Fashion Week, was leading the charge backstage, working with the team from Pinky’s Nails to design and apply creative manicures for seven shows throughout the week. (That’s more than 850 nails that need to be prepped and painted beforehand!)

Every week we take on your questions about makeup, skincare, hair and more and provide all the answers. This week, Beauty Fix is tackling questions about flyaway hair, peeling fingernails and the problems caused by a too-bright concealer. Plus: the only two products you need to prep for an after-work date while you’re still in the office. Read up for all the answers and more! In need of a beauty fix yourself? Email us at beautyfix@fashionmagazine.com.

Read on for the full fix! »

It’s a nail art–filled world, but Jin Soon Choi isn’t buying it. Manhattan’s favourite manicurist launches her own lacquer line, and Celia Ellenberg makes an appointment.

See Jin Soon Choi’s nail polish collection »

“I hate filing,” says Jin Soon Choi, seated for a pedicure. The nail industry veteran with nearly 25 years of polishing experience winces as an aesthetician at her Upper East Side salon drags an emery board across her well-maintained toes. It was her first bombshell of the day; the second followed shortly thereafter. “High fashion doesn’t go with nail art,” she deadpans, thus denouncing the abstract expressionist movement that has taken over the backstage nail game for the past four-plus seasons (never mind the pink, silver-trimmed manicures at Chanel’s Fall couture presentation in July).

From the Luoboutin heels that Carly Rae Jepsen is wearing on the cover of our October issue to all the animal print accessories that got a spot in our Fall/Winter 2012 trends guide, there’s never been a better time to paint leopard-print spots on your nails. It’s a fan favourite for nail art that can done in endless colour combinations—but we think it looks best in the classic shades of tawny-brown, copper and black. The muted colours of a leopard-print manicure is also a clever way to sneak some nail art into otherwise formal occasions. (Say, for instance, a family-filled Thanksgiving dinner?) Above all else, leopard-print spots are easy to master: all you need is a dotting tool!

See how easy leopard-print nail art is! »

Outer space has inspired many a manicure, from the classic moon manicure (okay, it may be named for the moon of your nails and not the moon in the sky, but still!) to glittering galaxy-style nail art. Last fall Jeremy Laing had many a moon print in his collection and this season it seems Carolina Herrera is taking inspiration from astronomy. Two pieces in particular seemed to capture the crater-filled, swirling surface of the moon and it’s this print that served as the basis for today’s nail art. (Also, I’m not the only one completely enamoured with the images of Mars that the Curiosity Rover has been sending back to Earth, right? Outer space is on-trend!) To get the surface of the moon on your nails, you’ll need two shades of mushroom-purple nail polish, a silver-purple glitter and a few dotting tools. Don’t worry, this manicure is easier than rocket science.

See how the surface of the moon manicure is done! »

Nail polish fanatics, this one is for you! If you’ve ever wondered who’s behind the incredible colours and clever names of OPI and Nicole by OPI nail polishes, it’s none other than Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, the brand’s executive vice president and artistic director. It would be easy to credit her and OPI with the ever-growing popularity of nail polish—since the ’80s Suzi Weiss-Fischmann has been the force behind every nail polish OPI has released, no matter the colour or collection. Love the metallic berry-red of “I’m Really Not a Waitress” or the perfect taupe of “You Don’t Know Jacques?” That was Suzi. Think that the forthcoming Modern Family collection with Nicole by OPI is beyond inventive? That’s Suzi again! So what does the woman who’s responsible for so many manicures around the world carry on a daily basis? We took a look inside Suzi Weiss-Fischmann’s Chanel purse to find out!

Go inside Suzi’s bag! »

Ever feel like you’re caught in a beauty loop? It can be as simple as trying to cover up stained nails with more stain-causing nail polish (yikes!) or as long-term as knowing that the onset of fall also means the start of at least six months of dry skin. This week we’re all about helping you break out of these bad beauty cycles: our Beauty Fix answers include how to avoid messing up your foundation when applying a dark eye shadow, tips for addressing uneven skin tone and everything you need to know about proper exfoliation.

Read on for the full fix! »

If Kelly Osbourne had her way, she’d like you to believe that each of her nails were covered in $25,000 worth of nail polish at last night’s Emmys. Before the award show went live she tweeted a picture of Azature’s Black Diamond nail polish with the subtle caption, “About to get a $250k manicure w nail polish made w blk diamonds made by @azature so excited & honored but absolutely shitting myself to have that much money on my nails!”

However, given that the jewelry company only produced one bottle of its $250,000 nail polish—a bottle that contains a hefty 267 carats of black diamonds—there was some confusion about what was really on Kelly Osbourne’s nails.